The brief
histories provided in the following sections are intended to provide only
an introduction to the more interesting journeys experienced by our
ancestors, and to answer the questions of where we came from and how we
came to be in South Texas. My opinions and interpretations are
interspersed throughout.

New
Spain The journey of the first Longorias to Nueva España in 1603 and the
early history of Longorias in the New World is discussed in this section.

Nuevo Santander The great colonization effort, under the direction of Jose de Escandon,
which led to the founding of Camargo and other settlements along the lower
Rio Grande River is briefly presented in this section.

Camargo Camargo was founded in 1749 and was the first settlement on the Rio
Grande River. This section briefly discusses the history of this town
where so many of our ancestors settled.

La Grulla La Grulla was founded in 1836 by an heir of Pedro Longoria, the
Original Grantee of Porcion 94. This section briefly discusses the history
of this little town where Longoria roots extend so deeply.

La Encantada The La Encantada land grant is located in present day Brooks County,
Texas, and is where our Villarreal and Longoria ancestors moved to
establish the La Primavera and Santa Rita ranchos. This section provides a
brief history of this land grant.

Encino, Texas (this section is under
development and will be loaded in sections until it is complete)

The small communities of Encino and Rachal are situated on the boundary
between the Encino del Pozo and La Alameda land grants. Descendants
of the founders of those two land grants, as well as those of the La
Encantada and El Lucero land grants, played important roles in the
development of these two communities in southern Brooks County.

The Alcala Exodus The Alcala family is torn apart by the Mexican
Revolution; my wife's grandfather is forced to take desperate measures to
flee Jimenez and relocates his family to Brownsville, Texas.

Our Longoria ancestors
actually lived under six flags of Texas. These flags represented Spain,
Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Republic of the Rio Grande, the
Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.

Juan Santiago Longoria, for one, actually lived
under all six of these flags.

But, our roots are
intertwined deeply only with the four flags shown below.